CANBERRA - Former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks -- a prominent and successful Australian of Lebanese heritage -- sees only a "dangerous slippery-slope" in the Federal Immigration Minister's singling out of the descendants of Muslim refugees from Lebanon.

Although Dutton is now stressing the "vast majority of Lebanese Australians are law-abiding, hard-working, good decent people," Bracks -- whose great grandparents came to Australia in the 1890s -- said the Minister is causing great damage.

"It is not just a backbencher or an MP starting to talk about race and creed as a principle on which our immigration policy would be determined," Bracks told The Huffington Post Australia.

He said the waves of migrant communities around Australia, from post the World War II Italian and Greek communities to Asian, African, Eastern Europe and Middle East communities, would be watching the current debate with great concern.

"What it says to them is that another country, another religion could be easily classified as not able to enter Australia in the future," he said.

"That is the slippery slope Mr Dutton would be on, if he was to change his rhetoric to be policy."

Dutton insists he's "not going to be dishonest in this discussion" and he has "spoken the truth".

"Does that mean retrospectively we should look at, for example, the waves of Vietnamese migrants who came here, of which there was some criminal activity in the gangs which operated, or the Italians in some of the extension of the Mafia? You attack the crime," Bracks insists.

"Waves and waves of migrants have settled here. You have to work with them and support them in their entry and adjustment into Australia and that is very, very important."

"You don't demonise a whole race or religion. Essentially that is the implication of what Mr Dutton has done."